Coyote is an amazing engine. I am sure 0w40 castrol would be treating your engine nicely. I have seen 5w20 and 5w30 recommended by ford, xw50 sounds too thick for me. I never noticed that 5w50 was more expensive than thinner oil thoughI am not due for an oil change, for awhile, but might consider the 5w30 for my next change, in my coyote F150, just to see how it goes. At 255k, if it wants to blow, it probably will regardless if I keep using 0w40 Castrol or 5w30 Valvoline Restore and Protect.
Oz Tuning recommends 5w50 for all coyote applications, but I have been too cheap to run it.
Valvoline Restore and Protect
- Thread starter Scott S
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Beware of cheap 5w-50s that will shear down and oxidize to 10w-30s.
Forget what "feels" right-- the engine's vote is all that counts. If you don't have any truly cold starts (below 50F) and it's a high load application where you care about max engine life over squeezing every last HP out of it-- then 20w-50 all day every day. (btw, thicker oils can have less windage actually not cost as much power is might be assumed at high RPM when the pump is on the regulator).
If your need to squeeze every last HP out of it is huge and only only need the engine to last long enough to qualify, than by all means a 20 grade.
In a weekend hot rod, VR1 20w-50 in the black bottle is the easy button. It's easy to find, affordably priced, and has pretty decent profile with a stout add pack with gobs ZDDP (about 40% more than any API SP rated oil. (1300ppm vs <800ppm). The VR1 also has a sweet friction modifier package that tends to make more power than the thick viscosity would suggest. (I'm using it in all my outdoor power equipment as it's perfectly matched for that application: startup wear protection, warms fast, resists foaming). It's not going to last very long in terms of oxidation resistance and it's not got much in the way of detergents. But you're probably only going 2k miles or less in a hot rod anyway between changes.
If you can't handle short ODIs like that, then stick with a heavy API SP oil.
Track Pack Mustangs used it, but mechanically were no different than their non track pack counterparts. Oz Tuning has a lot of experience with Coyote's so I trust their judgement on the matter.
When I used 5w50, I used Castrol Edge.
Yes sir, we are on the same page. I would consider that usage as an "edge case" not a good example of what most coyote owners do with their engine, and certainly not on a f150.
My car calls 0w20 on the manual, but I fill it with 5w40 for the similar reasons as you suggested. I can certainly tell you i do feel the robbed power and decreased MPG over 0w20, but the car operates around 250f for 20 minutes of so track sessions.
Most certainly. And probably they did that to maximize "durability on track driving" rather than street driving. That does not mean it would be a good choice for regular daily driving
That's what the Ford Performance Racing School also uses.
If you're losing MPG, try a different heavy oil.
HPL 15w-40 in my Accord is giving me 1.5 to 2 mpg better than the prior Valvoline Restore and Protect 5w-30.
What would explain that as it seems inverse to logic?
Well, in this car and its commuter duty, the engine is almost always under 2000 rpm. At such low RPM, the difference in pumping loss is miniscule at best because the oil pump isn't spinning super fast and the pump is likely well below its regulation point. It's possible there's marginally less ring friction to offset the increased pumping work.
There's also some anecdotal evidence of HPL's formulation improving ring seal to some extent-- at least I've read such elsewhere here on BITOG.
But the difference is real, as far as I can tell. My prior OCI averaged 29.0 for the entire OCI. I'm at 30.0 for this OCI and I'm nearly 2k into it. I track every trip, every fill-up, and every OCI, all with their own averages.
Even if you don't buy the mpg increase, the more significant takeaway is that it didn't go down jumping from 5w-30 to 15w-40. In the real world, there's almost nothing whatsoever to the supposed MPG gains of thin oils, and thus almost nothing at all to the mpg losses of thicker oils.
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Indeed. All other factors being equal, and depending on several factors, higher viscosities can increase ring seal significantly.
I don't baby my truck, plus I do tow a boat. Oz Tuning recommends 5w50 more due to the VCT system, and how it operates. I settled on 0w40 due to price. It did quiet things down vs 5w20.
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Either option is a good option. Mobil makes great lubricants. The Mobil 1 ESP 0W-30 also has the ACEA spec C3, which requires a HTHS of >3.5. The Valvoline Restore and Protect HTHS 5W-30 is 3.2. Both will keep your engine clean. According to Valvoline you can use their Valvoline Restore and Protect oil in brand new cars until you wear them out if you want to, it is their premium product. I have an e-mail from Valvoline tech about this I received on 9/29/2025 I will try to link to this response. There are several people here that can explain the differences better than me. Don't quote me here, but I think the Mobil 1 ESP 0w30 has more Group 4 & 5 base stock in it. @edyvw could probably tell you all about it if he is around and not too busy. Take Care @ChrisD46
Would you run Valvoline Restore and Protect in your Type R Samurai ?
Hi Josh ..I wouldn't hesitate to use it although I've owned the car since new and the sump has seen nothing but quality synthetics @ 5000 mile intervals so hopefully my engine and piston rings are clean. I also run nothing but 93 octane rated top tier gasoline.
Told Valvoline to correct that heading 10 days ago. It says 20W-20 instead of 20W-50:
https://www.valvolineglobal.com/en/advanced-full-synthetic-sae-20w-50/
https://www.valvolineglobal.com/en/advanced-full-synthetic-sae-20w-50/
Yeah i have been seeing this ads too
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